Tri-Service
Drug Dealer Jailed After Boasting Of Attack On Royal Marine
A convicted drug dealer, who was originally spared prison for a brutal attack on a Royal Marine, has been jailed after goading his victim on Facebook with a picture of champagne.
Within hours of being spared jail and leaving Truro Crown Court, self-employed builder Ben Scott posted a photo of a £140 bottle of Louis Roederer Cristal champagne.
Today he was recalled to the court to face the judge who had spared him prison and was given a 12 month sentence, half of which will be spent behind bars.
Speaking to the West Briton, Corporal Marc Jolly, who served in Afghanistan, said:
"It's good to know that he has finally got the sentence he deserves but I don't think he is the kind of person who will drop it just like that. His Facebook post was disgraceful and made a mockery of the justice system so he should now just get on with it and do the time and then we can all put all of this behind us and move on with our lives."
Corporal Marc Jolly had said he felt safer on the frontline in Afghanistan than in his hometown of Camborne following the assault.
The 27-year-old, who has served as a Royal Marine for eight years, was attacked from behind by Ben Scott in a car park on Christmas Eve last year.
The attack, in which Scott repeatedly kicked and stamped on the Marine, was caught on CCTV.
Afterwards, Scott wrote on Facebook: “Real decent people prevail in the end.”
“That scum Marc Jolly can stay at the bottom of my shoe where he belongs. I win.”
Marc, who is based at Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, had returned home in December to spend Christmas with his family.
Corporal Jolly was on a night out with friends and was outside the Tyacks hotel when he was assaulted. He said:
"I was walking to the car in the dark on my own and he sprouts up behind me and hit me on the back of my head and knocked me to the ground. He stamped and kicked me on the floor.”
"The manly thing to do is fight someone face to face so they have a fighting chance but to spring up on someone is cowardly."
"He hit me 14 times. I had three head wounds that had to be glued back together to stop the bleeding. The paramedics were absolutely brilliant. It was my eye they were most concerned about. They thought the retina might have been detached."
Scott pleaded guilty to one charge of assault causing actual bodily harm and was originally handed a 16-month prison sentence, suspended for two years.
He was then called back to Truro Crown Court on Wednesday after a huge public outcry following his Facebook post.
Police in Camborne said the attack on Corporal Jolly was 'incredibly cowardly' and that the post showed a 'complete lack of disregard for the courts.
It comes after Scott was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in jail for drug dealing at Gloucester Crown Court in 2010.
Cover image: Ben Scott/Facebook
Related topics
Join Our Newsletter
